1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the general art of freight accommodation on freight carriers, and to the particular field of load lashing.
2. Description of the Related Art
Many people haul all types of cargo in the beds of trucks. This cargo can range from loose materials to neatly stacked materials. During transport, the materials, no matter how carefully they are initially stacked, can shift. Cargo shifting can be significant enough to cause some of the cargo to be in danger of falling out of the truck.
Therefore, there is a need for a load lashing unit which can securely and reliably hold freight or loads in place.
While the freight accommodation art contains several examples of load tie-down systems, these systems are often difficult and onerous to set up. Still further, many of the systems known to the inventor do not tie a load down from a plurality of locations. That is, many systems known to the inventor simply have cables or cords that stretch across a load and have each end anchored to the carrier. The cables, cords and/or straps are often parallel with each other and are located at spaced apart locations on the load. This is satisfactory for many purposes; however, the load may be able to slip under the tie-down straps in the direction of the spacing.
Therefore, there is a need for a load lashing unit which can securely and reliably hold freight or loads in place and which can be attached at various locations.
Still further, most of the load tie-down systems known to the inventor cannot easily adapt to a cargo load having a non-uniform shape. That is, if the cargo load has an unusual outer peripheral shape, a tie-down system of straps may not fit tightly on all side surfaces of the cargo load. This may cause some of the load to be loose.
Therefore, there is a need for a load lashing unit which can securely and reliably hold freight or loads in place and which can be attached at various locations and which can accommodate loads having unusual shapes and outlines.
Another problem with cargo tie-down systems known to the inventor is that each individual tie-down strap must be individually connected and anchored. This can be a time consuming process when two ends of each of a plurality of straps must be individually connected and anchored.
Therefore, there is a need for a load lashing unit which can securely and reliably hold freight or loads in place and which can be attached at various locations and which can accommodate loads having unusual shapes and outlines and which can be quickly set up.